1. Field of Invention
The field of the invention lies in the field of supporting cookies and/or the liberty protocol on the server side whenever UA support is not available or not desirable.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, it has become possible for mobile terminals, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistance, etc., to access the Internet using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which is a communications protocol and application environment for the deployment of information resources, advanced telephony services and Internet access.
A cookie is a text file stored in memory of a device that has been placed by a website on the Internet that was visited. In a typical client/server environment, a cookie allows the server side of the Internet connection to both store and retrieve information on the client side. One advantage of cookies is that they can automatically identify the client to the server, thereby shortening or eliminating the user identification element of the log-in process. Moreover, a website content provider can use a cookie to identify a particular website page(s) provided to a visitor based on the website provider's evaluation of user preferences during website visit(s) in relation to the cookie. The downside of cookies is that they are placed on the client device without knowledge of the client, giving rise to concerns about privacy through electronic trespass. Besides, the website content provider can use information gathered about the client via cookies to steer and/or modify the website access by the visitor/client based on these real or perceived user preferences.
Currently, there are two types of mobile phones on the market: those that support cookies, and those that do not. For phones that support cookies, a client or user can select if they want to accept them or not. For phones that do not support cookies, a gateway typically stores and accepts them for all users by default. However, this approach presents a problem because cookies could be used for violating the privacy of users and the gateway does not allow them any kind of choice even between enabling this service and disabling it. Another problem is that the phone can support cookies, but their size could exceed the user agent (UA) capabilities to store them. In this case, the gateway may use its own storage to extend the usability of network services. For example, there is a known WAP gateway that has a special module that always accepts and stores cookies for user agents (UA) that do not support them. The component can be completely disabled, but that would affect all users.
Similarly, the Liberty protocol standard is not widely available during Internet based access using WAP. Presently, there are only pilot implementations of Liberty on the UA side. All UAs on the market do not support the Liberty standard. For instance, very few UAs have embedded Liberty support. Most of the presently available UAs (over 99%) do not have it. If the UA does not support the protocol, the service not available.
In view of the aforementioned, there is a need in the wireless network industry for providing cookies-support services, liberty-support services, or a combination thereof, at the discretion and control of particular clients, users and/or user agents in a wireless network.